Recollections and Letters (The Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading) - Softcover

Lee E., Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0760759197 ISBN 13: 9780760759196

Verlag: BookAnnex, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

Just as its subject, General Robert E. Lee, was no ordinary man, The Recollections and Letters is no ordinary book. In defeat, the formal Confederate general became the personification of the South. This was a remarkable evolution for a man who in 1861 took up arms against the nation of his birth and subsequently led an army to a devastating end. Lees transformation from defeated general to American hero was due in part to Robert E. Lee, Jr.s, dedication to his fathers memory.In 1904 the younger Lee produced The Recollections and Letters, a book made up primarily of the generals personal correspondence, much of which was written to his wife and children. The book provided touching insights into the generals family life, allowing readers to connect with him on a more human level. Any study of Robert E. Lee, the South, the Civil War, or American history is incomplete without The Recollections and Letters.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

The son of a Revolutionary War hero, Robert E. Lee was born in Stratford, Virginia, in 1807. He was educated at the United States Military Academy in West Point. During the Mexican War, Lee distinguished himself as an army officer and was wounded during the storming of Chapultepec. He later served as superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy and commanded the combined force of soldiers and marines that captured John Brown at Harpers Ferry in 1859. Abraham Lincoln offered Lee field command of all Federal forces but the Virginian declined, choosing instead to become commander of the Army of Northern Virginia in the Confederate forces.

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Just as its subject, General Robert E. Lee, was no ordinary man, The Recollections and Letters is no ordinary book. In the South, Robert E. Lee's legend is unrivaled. Generations have revered him to the point of outright deification. In defeat, the formal Confederate general became the South, or at least the personification of an image that the South desperately wanted to project onto itself. Lee's name became synonymous with chivalry, humility, dignity, and all that was right within the human spirit. Southern counties and towns were named in his honor, as were schools, bridges, buildings, parks, and even many children. His birthday became a holiday in the states of the old Confederacy. Lee's larger-than-life persona eventually grew to such an extent that he became not just a Southern icon, but an American icon as well'an American hero. This was a remarkable evolution for a man who in 1861 took up arms against the nation of his birth and subsequently led an army to a devastating end. Lee's transformation from defeated general to American hero was due in part to Robert E. Lee, Jr.'s, dedication to his father's memory. In 1904, the younger Lee produced The Recollections and Letters, a book made up primarily of the general's personal correspondence, much of which was written to his wife and children. The book provided touching insights into the general's family life, allowing already admiring readers to connect with him on a more human level. In historical perspective, the work offers personal insights into Lee that should not be ignored by anyone interested in the man, the South, the Civil War, or American history. Without Recollections and Letters, any study of Robert E. Lee is incomplete.

 

Lee's life and military career have been well chronicled. The son of Revolutionary hero Henry 'Lighthorse Harry' Lee, the future Confederate general was born in Stratford, Virginia, in 1807. He was educated at the United States Military Academy in West Point where in 1829 he graduated second in his class. As an army officer, Lee distinguished himself during the Mexican War and was wounded during the storming of Chapultepec in 1847. He later served as superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy and commanded the combined force of soldiers and marines that captured John Brown at Harper's Ferry in 1859.  In 1861, Abraham Lincoln offered Lee field command of all Federal forces but the Virginian declined, choosing instead to leave the Union with his home state. Though he realized the inherent dangers of secession, he said that he could never take part in an invasion of the South. Lee served as a military advisor to Confederate president Jefferson Davis and led the Army of Northern Virginia.  He orchestrated a number of stunning victories during the conflict, but his 1863 defeat at Gettysburg marked the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. In February 1865, Lee was finally given command of all Confederate forces, but the move came far too late. Overwhelmed, he surrendered two months later to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse and the Civil War ended. After the war and in poor health, Lee accepted a position as president of Washington College (later Washington and Lee University), and under his leadership the institution prospered. In 1870, the former general succumbed to heart disease that had plagued him since the war years, and he was entombed in Lexington, Virginia. The entire South mourned his passing.

 

Lee united two of the great American families of the Revolutionary era in 1831 when he married Mary Custis, the daughter of Washington Parke Custis and granddaughter of Martha Washington. The union produced seven children, three sons and four daughters. Robert E. Lee, Jr., known as 'Rob' to his family, was the general's youngest son. He was born in 1843, and later wrote '[t]he first vivid recollection I have of my father is his arrival at Arlington, after his return from the Mexican War.' Though he seemed to give little thought to a military career before the Civil War, Rob left the University of Virginia in 1862 and joined the 'Rockbridge Artillery' as a private. He was later appointed to the rank of captain and served as an aid to his brother Custis. Rob survived the war and afterward returned to Virginia and entered private business. Like his siblings, he revered his father, and was determined to preserve his father's memory for future generations. With this in mind, the publication of his father's correspondence was as much a celebration of the general's life and legend as it was an attempt to preserve the historical record.

 

While the publication of Recollections and Letters was a tribute by a son to his father, it was also part of a larger phenomenon that was beginning to peak by the turn of the twentieth century. Although Lee died just a few years after the Civil War ended, many other Confederate veterans did not, and as they recovered from their ordeal the seeds of Southern mythology regarding their collective military service began to take root. Defeated militarily, the South in the decades following 1865 struggled to vindicate the ideals and decisions that had led it into a conflict that cost so many men their lives. From the ashes of war and the turbulence of the Reconstruction period, a cultural identity took shape grounded in ideas and attitudes referred to collectively as the Lost Cause. Celebrations of the Lost Cause took many forms: annual civil and religious services honoring the Confederate dead, veterans' reunions, the deification of Confederate military leaders, the erection of Confederate monuments, and the emergence of groups such as the United Confederate Veterans, United Sons of Confederate Veterans, and United Daughters of the Confederacy. Politicians on the stump used the language of the Lost Cause'language denoting moral superiority based on abstract notions of honor and chivalry'to garner votes, and ministers espoused Lost Cause virtues from the pulpit. Textbooks 'educated' generations of white Southern school children on the nature of the war as a noble struggle of principle, lost only in the face of superior Northern resources. For a century after the war, the Lost Cause salved the psychological wounds of defeat and gave cultural authority to Confederate symbols, most prominently the 'stars and bars' rebel flag. As they entered the twentieth century, the states of the old Confederacy did their best to maintain this cultural identity by accenting the New South with many of the cosmetic trappings of an idealized Old South. The Confederate memoir also became fashionable during the period. Some major figures produced books, but across the South common soldiers were also encouraged to put pen to paper and record their recollections. More than a generation removed from the bloody consequences of actual fighting, many of these first-hand accounts were more romantic in nature, emphasizing Confederate valor and minimizing those aspects of war that might be less attractive. By the time the generation of Southern males that had fought the war began passing from the scene, their exploits as Confederate soldiers had already entered the realm of legend. In the South every veteran, regardless of rank, became a larger-than-life hero and every battle'large or small, won or lost'drew comparisons with the great battles of history.

 

In this atmosphere there was no greater hero than Robert E. Lee, and the publication of his letters helped propagate his legend. Recollections and Letters concentrated more on Lee's character than on his military career. Only...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: BookAnnex
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0760759197
• ISBN 13: 9780760759196
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 432
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland